Junior engineers protest Electricity (Amendment) Bill in Patiala

Tribune News Service

Patiala, August 10

On a call given by the National Coordination Committee of Electricity Employees and Engineers (NCCOEEE), power junior engineers of the PSPCL and the PSTCL today observed “Save Democracy, Save Power Sector Day” by holding protest rallies in front of all circle headquarters of the PSPCL and the state headquarters here.

In a press note issued here, Davinder Singh, state general secretary of JEs Council, and Paramjit Singh Khattra, its state president, said power junior engineers held massive rallies at Patiala, Khanna, Barnala, Ferozepur,

Mohali, Ropar, Nawanshahr, Muktsar, Kapurthala, Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Lehra Mohabbat, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Faridkot, Hoshiarpur and other districts to register their protest against the proposed Electricity Amendment Bill, 2021.

The council leadership said the real objective of the proposed Electricity (Amendment) Bill 2021 was to privatise electricity distribution. It is an approach towards turning the DISCOMs financially sick and later sell those to private distributors at throwaway prices.

“This Bill will also put the future of over 25 lakh workers at present employed with DISCOMs in the dark. Instead of benefiting consumers, the Bill will benefit private distributors as they will choose to serve only such consumers from whom they can earn a maximum of profit. It should be scrapped without any further delay,” said the council leadership.

The council has also expressed its serious concerns regarding the delay in implementation of various decisions taken during a meeting held with the PSPCL management. “We caution the power management to do the needful without any further delay to contain the discontentment among power junior engineers,” they said.